


Nine Times

by intomymindspace (cryswinches)



Category: Uncharted (Video Games)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Cliche, F/M, Minor Character Death, Mutual Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-28
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-11 23:48:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29750886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cryswinches/pseuds/intomymindspace
Summary: Eight times Nathan and you kissed before confessing your feelings to one another, and one time you did after.
Relationships: Nathan Drake/Reader
Kudos: 1





	Nine Times

**One**

You were holding Nate tightly in your arms as his heavy sobs racked and shook his entire body, almost violently. Your shirt was wet with his tears, and his warm, strong arms were clinging to you as if you were his lifeline. His cries and pain-filled screams were the only noise piercing the silence of the living room.

Only half an hour ago, he had stumbled back into the apartment after his trip to Panama with Sam and Rafe — you were forced to opt out on this part of the mission due to the fact that they were breaking into a prison.

When you had heard the door open and close, you immediately knew it was the Drake brothers — who obviously forgot to call and tell you they were coming back. When you nearly sprinted to the door, you found an exhausted Nate carrying his and Sam’s bags.

“Nate! Hey, how’d it go?” He didn’t answer you, and only set the bags down to take off his jacket and shoes. It was so uncharacteristic of him — always greeting you with a hug and a smile.

“Where’s Sam? Is he still sorting some things out with Rafe?” The mention of Sam’s name made Nate’s head pop up, and your eyes met his grey stormy ones — that’s when you noticed the dark and heavy bags under his eyes. You stepped towards him.

“Nate, what’s wrong?”

“He’s gone.” He refused to look at you again, and you rested your hand on his shoulder, panic settling into you.

“Nate, who’s gone?” You tilted his chin up, finding tears streaming down his face.

“Sam.” Within that moment, you knew Nate needed you more than you needed to grieve. Immediately, you pulled him into a tight embrace, your arms going around his neck and grasping his shoulders.

Nate immediately broke down the minute you surrounded him in your arms — he wrapped his arms around your waist before collapsing onto his knees to rest on his heels. The sobs racked his body, and you let him lean his head on your chest.

“Oh, Nathan,” you said softly, with tears in your eyes, as he began to calm down. It hurt you so much to see him in this pain, and for now, you tried your best to push away your pain to help him. You stroked the back of his head comfortingly as his breathing began to normalize. “I’m so sorry.” The two of you had shifted into a more comfortable position, still on the floor of the living room.

“Rafe… he shot a guard. We — we were escaping and just — ” he took a few breaths to calm himself, “just as we were about to make it out, he — Sam got shot.” You held him even tighter as he continued.

“I tried reaching to pull him up, but he fell and — and I couldn’t — ” you shushed Nate, reassuring him that it was okay that he didn’t need to talk about it.

You three often joked about calling yourselves the Three Musketeers — you couldn’t help but wipe the tears off your cheeks before they dropped onto Nathan.

“I miss him.” You looked to find Nathan gazing at you, tears threatening to spill once more.

“I do too, Nate.” You gently wiped the tears that flowed onto his cheeks, but you kept your hand there to caress his cheek and jawline. “We’ll be okay, okay?”

“Please, never leave me.” His voice was low and tender, making your heart break. You looked into his light eyes, knowing you both needed each other and the comfort of just one another. You saw his eyes flicker to your lips, and you found yourself inching towards Nate.

His hand trailed up to gently grasp the back of your neck, and he pulled you as close as possible to him, your lips touching his in a tender kiss, the salt from the both of your tears mixing.

As you both let go of the kiss, Nate burrowed his face into the crook of your neck, your perfume calming him.

“We’ll be okay.”

“Okay.”

* * *

**Two**

Nate was about to jump out of the window when he realized you weren’t going to follow him.

“Nate, you know there’s no way I can make that jump, right?” He looked at the yellow pipe on the opposite wall, and then back at you. Sighing, he walked away from the ledge and towards you.

“Are you sure?” There was a slight desperation in his voice, and you nodded.

“I’ll be here, waiting. Okay?” He sighed again and mumbled an okay. He walked back to the window, turning around slightly to give you another glance.

“Are you sure you’ll be fine here? I don’t know how long it’ll take for me to find the generator room and get the power up.”

“Don’t worry about me, okay? Worry about making sure you don’t get ripped apart by those things.” He chuckled and continued to make his way towards the ledge.

“Nate!” Almost too excited that you had stopped him, he turned around immediately to find that you were right in front of him.

“Yeah?” His grey eyes were swimming as they looked into yours. Quickly, you slid a hand onto his shoulder and grasped the back of his neck to slightly lower his head. You then leaned up on your tippy toes to close the space between your lips, kissing him sweetly. Before you could pull away, he cupped your cheeks with both his hands to deepen the kiss.

Pulling way, you shoved his chest playfully to distract the fact the he left you absolutely breathless.

“Be careful, Nate.” He gave you his signature smirk.

“Yes ma’am.”

* * *

**Three**

“Nate, I don’t think we’re losing them!” You yelled at him as you ran hand in hand along the busy street market.

“I know, I know!” He suavely stole a jacket off of a café chair and put it on as the two of you kept running. Suddenly, he grabbed you again and pulled you into a shortcut alley between two streets, buying the both of you more time as the police went around the normal route.

“In here!” You let him pull you again as the two of you ran, this time underneath a balcony. Without warning, he pulled your hair tie off and began to let your hair down.

“What are you doing?” You whispered, noticing he has backed you against a brick pillar underneath the shade.

“Improvising. How far away are they?”

“A block away, we need to go, they’ll see us if we don’t — ”

“Just shut up and kiss me.”

“What?”

“Just — ” before he continued his sentence, Nate caged you between himself and the brick pillar with his arms and kissed you desperately.

As his lips moved against yours, you wound your arms around his neck, covering the majority of his face as he pulled you closer to him, one arm slinging around your waist as the other cupped your cheek.

As the both of you heard the police radios chattering, Nate quickly let the both of you breath before deepening the kiss and pushing you against the brick wall. The police officers ran past the both of you without a glance, and as their heavy footsteps died into the crowded streets, Nate gave you one last kiss.

“I think they’re gone.” You said, obviously flustered by just kissing your best friend in such a rush.

“Yeah.” Nate tried not to sound breathless after kissing you — his heart was practically beating out of his chest. “Come on,” he grabbed your hand, “let’s make it back to the hotel.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

* * *

**Four**

“Holy shit, Nate!” You slapped him on the arm and ran out of the opening that had been chiseled out of the mountain. The landscape in front of you was absolutely astonishing — so much green, beautiful architecture, all hidden away in the oasis of the Himalayas.

Nate laughed at your antics and followed suit behind you, grinning ear to ear at your reaction.

“Holy shit, we found it.”

“Yeah, we did.” You turned towards him.

“Say it.” A smirk began to form on Nate’s face, and you wanted to slap it off so goddamn bad.

“Say what?” His tone was purposely oblivious to your demand.

“You know what I mean! I just — ” you looked at the lost city again, “I just wanna hear you say it.” His smirk turned into a genuine smile.

“Well, welcome to Shambhala.” With those words, you could contain the excitement that was bubbling within your chest. You jumped into Nate’s expecting arms, hugging him as the both of you laughed — he began spinning you slightly out of his own excitement as well.

That’s when you looked into his eyes without thinking, and kissed him sweetly on the lips, not giving him enough time to kiss you back, leaving your best friend dumbfounded as you exited his strong embrace to explore.

“Come on, slowpoke!” Nate smiled as you practically frolicked away, and followed you.

“She’s going to be the death of me one day."

* * *

**Five**

You didn’t want to leave Nate all alone this Christmas, so instead, you opted to invite him as your plus one to your family reunion-slash-Christmas-party. There were at least thirty people at your grandparents’ house alone.

You had expected Nate to be a little suspicious about going to this event with you, but you found that it was the opposite for him — perhaps it was because of the reassurance that your pesky relatives wouldn’t be assuming anything considering the fact that Sully was some sort of in-law, making sense for you to bring Nate since the two of you still roomed in the same apartment. If it was, Nathan didn’t show it. He talked around with the guys and your brother while you helped your sister-in-law with making salad.

“Hey, how are things with Nate?” You shrugged.

“Pretty okay, we’re taking a break from finding another job until the holiday season ends.” She was quite familiar with what the two of you did, considering that Sully was indeed her uncle.

“Don’t tell me you two are still living in the same apartment.” You laughed at her comment.

“We still are.”

“Are you sure there’s nothing going on between the two of you?” You looked up at her with a confused look.

“What do you mean?” She sighed.

“What I’m saying is, to the normal eye, you guys look like you’re dating. You’ve been living together for, what, five years?” You choked on the air you just inhaled.

“That’s — that’s not what is going on. We just haven’t moved because of what happened with — ” she cut you off.

“Of what happened with Sam, I know. Just… have the two of you been dating other people?”

“Yeah, I’ve been seeing a few guys here and there, but work kinda gets in the way,” you laughed, getting back to the cutting board.

“And what about Nate?”

“Look, I love you with all my heart, but what are you trying to get at?” She sighed again.

“I’m saying that maybe you two were meant to be more than just best friends, okay?” It was your turn to sigh before letting out a nervous chuckle.

“I don’t know about that.”

“Know about what?” Your eyes widened at the sound of Nate’s voice from behind you.

“I was just saying, I don’t know about whether or not you have the ego the size of Africa. I think you might, though.” You managed to save yourself from eternal embarrassment. Nate gasped in shock as he smiled in greeting to your sister-in-law.

“You wound me.” You smiled.

“Well, I do have a knife in my hand.” He raised his hands and looked up in a playful defeat as you set the knife down.

“Oh, crap.” You furrowed your eyebrows.

“What?” He looked at you before motioning up to the ceiling.

“Well,” he said, “that’s an interesting place to hang mistletoe.” You sighed and looked up, finding that there was indeed mistletoe hanging above the two of you. You glanced to find that your sister-in-law had left after Nate walked over, and you exhaled in relief and shrugged.

“No one’s watching, you could just leave.” He smirked at you.

“Come on, where’s the fun in that?” You rolled your eyes at him.

“You’re an asshole.” Nate leaned closer towards you and winked.

“I know, sweetheart.”

He gently grasped your chin with his fingers, and pecked you sweetly on the lips before letting you go.

“Merry Christmas, humbug.”

“You too, asshole.”

* * *

**Six**

You were in Elena’s kitchen, about to make some guacamole while her husband set up the grill. They had invited you, Nate, Sully, and a few other friends and neighbors for a barbecue. Nate walked inside through the sliding glass door and came over to annoy you, sitting at the other side of the kitchen counter.

“Want a beer?” You asked him, rummaging through the fridge to find some onions.

“Sure, thanks.” Taking the bottle out, you set it on the counter before taking about what you needed and setting it by the cutting board. Getting off the stool, Nate walked over to grab the beer.

Taking it in one hand, he leaned down to kiss you on the cheek. However, you thinking he was about to say something to you, you turned your head to face him, only to feel his lips kiss yours — it was short, but it left you wondering if you had always ignored the sparks that left your heart racing.

Pulling back quickly, you saw the blush spread across Nate’s cheeks, and you were certain that yours were reddening as well.

“Sorry, I meant to kiss your cheek but you turned…” He was rubbing the back of his neck, a small, sheepish smile on his lips.

“No, my fault, I turned. It’s okay.” You returned his smile before trying to focus on making some guac. You felt his lips on your cheek, and saw him scurrying away.

Blushing, you lifted your fingers to touch the place he kissed you on your cheek.

* * *

**Seven**

“Ready, kids?” Sully asked, pulling up the expensive rented car to the event. Both you and Nate responded with an affirmation, him squeezing your hand affectionately, a soft look in his eyes.

“Let’s go.” With that, Nate opened the door and got out, turning around to help you out of the car. With you holding onto the crook of his arm, he handed the invitations to the guards at the door of the ballroom, who let the two of you in without a second glance. With a sigh of relief, you both looked at each other with smiles as the two of you walked into the extravagant ballroom.

Nate lead you out onto the dance floor to have a better chance at scouting for your target — a rich man whose father was hosting the event. Supposedly, he was carrying with him a piece of jewelry that the two of you both desperately needed as a clue.

“Have you seen him anywhere?” Nate asked, as he delicately twirled you around before dipping you — that’s when you caught sight of the man, who happened to be looking right at you.

Sending the man a seductive look, you answered Nate, whispering into his ear. “Yes, and I think our plan is working.”

“Great.” You made sure that the man’s eyes were still on you as you danced with Nathan.

“I’m not sure if I told you, but you look especially beautiful tonight.” You allowed yourself to roll your eyes, ignoring the blush that was rising.

“Thank you, sweetheart.”

“Man, he’s really got his eyes on you.” Nate tried his best to hide the fact that his comment came out as a sneer, but you didn’t seem to notice.

“I know.” You made sure you sent the man another dramatically-filled gaze.

“He’s practically in love with you at this point.” You sighed, looking to find him doing his best to not send death glares to the target, or even notice him.

“That’s the plan, Nate.”

“I’m starting to not like the plan.”

“Nate, we’re not actually couple, remember?” He turned his stormy gaze to meet your eyes.

“Yeah, I know.” He didn’t let it show, but he regretted that you both weren’t together. “But right now you’re my wife, so as much as I hate this plan at the current moment — ” he dipped you as he paused, “I’m going to kiss you so we can get done with this jackass.” You smiled at his words.

“Great.”

With that, he let go of your hand to cup your cheek gently. Nate’s gaze flickered down to your wine lips, before kissing you tenderly — he couldn’t ignore the fireworks this time. His heart beat a mile a minute as he moved his lips against your soft ones.

Had he always ignored the sparks? Nate asked himself this as he watched you walk away to the bar. Or, was it maybe that he never realized until now how hard he had fallen for you?

Nate smiled, even though you were seductively whispering into the target’s ear, distracting him to pickpocket his ring. Of course it was you, after all these years. He was just too naïve until now to see it.

* * *

**Eight**

Marlowe’s men were coming at the two of you from practically everywhere — all you and Nathan could do was shoot, reload, cover each other, and repeat without dying.

You both were pinned down behind a crate, hiding from an armored man carrying a grenade launcher, while three other men from three different areas shot at the two of you. Gritting your teeth as you shot at them, you hoped Nate had better luck taking down the guy with the grenade launcher, who was approaching the two of you from afar. He yelled your name over the loud gunfire, his stormy greys almost burning.

“Yeah?” You managed to pick up a grenade that was thrown by one of the side men and throw it back before it blew up.

“If we don’t make it out — ”

“Not a good time, Nate!”

“Yes, a good time, Nate!” He yelled back at you. Of course he’d retort back in a situation like this, but he managed to shoot the helmet off the armored man.

“Look, in case we die, you need to kn — ” he jerked you down violently, “shit! Sniper up top!”

“Jesus, Nate! If you’re that hellbent in telling me right now, just say it!” It was just a constant back-and-forth yelling between the two of you at the moment, but you laughed after the end of your statement as you managed to shoot down the second man with an assault rifle, before getting back into cover to reload.

Nate grabbed your arm quickly, making you look at him. Immediately, he crushed his lips onto yours, kissing you passionately before breaking away. “I love you.” Your heart beat erratically as your eyes met his — and you knew he meant what he just said. With that, he leaped over the crate you both were using as cover, and tackled the man with the grenade launcher, you screaming his name.

* * *

**Nine**

Nathan Drake was nervous. He was practically alone at the end of the isle — he didn’t have Sully to reassure him because the old sport was busy helping you. His palms were sweating and his knees were weak.

He couldn’t believe you had said yes to him — he often thought he dreamt it every night. After all the years of you two having each other’s backs, and after all the kisses you two shared before realizing that there was no one in the world for him except you, he told you he loved you at the completely wrong moment.

Nate smiled at the memory — you punched him really hard before jumping into his arms the minute the last of Marlowe’s men dropped dead.

_“Nathan Drake, you are an asshole. I hate you so much.” He smirked as he held you tightly. “Never pull something like that again.”_

_“I love you.” It was a whisper this time, and it seemed as if he was almost afraid to say it. You didn’t completely pull away from his embrace, but you pulled away just enough to look at him._

_“Like, I_ love _love you. And I couldn’t hold it any longer from you, I’m sorry.” You sighed and looked away, and he continued._

 _“I get it if you don’t feel the same way, but… I don’t know. I guess, just after all these years, of you and me, and after all the times we — ” Nathan sighed. “Please don’t tell me you didn’t feel the same things I did all the times we’ve kissed. That it’s always just been us as_ just _friends?”_

_You looked back up to find that his eyes had a soft, sad but endearing gaze. His staring made you melt, and you sighed._

_“Kiss me again and you’ll find out.”_

From that moment on, he was yours. Perhaps, he had always been yours.

The music started playing, and he saw you, emerging from the doors, your arm linked with Sully’s as he walked you down the isle.

You were beautiful. You were glowing. The smile on your lips made Nate’s breath hitch and his heart clench as he gazed at you adoringly.

Nate had to restrain himself from kissing you, and instead whispered to you, his grey eyes never not looking at you.

He couldn’t believe he was about to marry you.

Then, somewhere along the way, Nathan heard the words, “and now, you may kiss the bride.” He was smiling the entire time as he gingerly lifted the veil away from your face before cupping your cheek.

“I love you so much.”

“I love you too.”

He grasped your chin and pulled you towards him, his lips meeting yours in a tender and loving embrace. Smiling into the kiss, you ran your hands up his hard chest, wrapping your arms around his neck, pulling him closer. As he deepened the kiss, he wrapped his arms around your waist.

Pulling back slightly just to breathe, Nathan kissed you again, before leaning his forehead on yours.

“Ready for another adventure, Mrs. Drake?”


End file.
